Actor and deputy chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Pawan Kalyan and Anna Lezhneva have been married since 2013. On Monday, she made a special request to her followers on Instagram, asking everyone to call her by the name Anna Konidala.
What Anna said
Sharing a picture which had the name ‘Anna Konidala: A small request about my name’, and one which featured her hugging Pawan from their first trip together, Anna wrote, “A name is such a personal thing.
With my birthday coming up soon, I felt like it’s finally the right moment to write this.
I’ve been meaning to do it ever since I started this Instagram account. I wrote it, deleted it… came back to it again. And I just couldn’t find the right way to say it.
Most people first got to know me as Anna Lezhneva, because that’s the name that was everywhere when news about our marriage came out.
The funny thing is, our marriage certificate is actually the last official document where that surname appears.
On that day, I took my husband’s surname and became Anna Konidala.
So if you’ve read this far, I just have one small request.
Please call me Anna Konidala.
That’s my name, and it’s the one I feel like myself with.
Thank you for understanding. It really means a lot to me. 🤍
P.S. The photo was taken during our very first trip to Saint Petersburg, Russia, together.”
Pawan Kalyan’s personal life and career
Pawan Kalyan is the younger brother of actors Chiranjeevi and Nagendra Babu. He ventured into films in 1996 with Akkada Ammayi Ikkada Abbayi. In 1997, he married Nandini, but they separated in 1999. Kalyan began dating actor-model Renu in 2001, and they married in 2009. The couple who parted ways in 2012 have two children, Akira and Aadhya. Pawan and Russian citizen Anna married in 2013. They have two children, Polena Anjana Pawanova and Mark Shankar Pawanovich. Pawan will soon star in a film directed by Surender Reddy.
Last month, Anna admitted that she had her own battles that weren’t as public, writing, “And while he was out there fighting battles in public, I was at home trying to stay strong for our children, often feeling completely alone. There were days I wanted to break down too. Days I was scared. Days I wondered how much more one person could endure for what he believed in. But we kept going. Not because it was easy. Not because it made life comfortable. But because some people simply cannot betray their conscience.”